


you ain't never gonna come down (why don't you giddy up)

by archmaestergilly



Category: The Poppy War - R. F. Kuang
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabbles, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, Idiots in Love, a little bit of character study, follow me as i re-read the entire series, started as headcanons now here we are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 13:38:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20436917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archmaestergilly/pseuds/archmaestergilly
Summary: A series of short drabbles about Nezha and Rin throughout their friendenemy-ship.Each chapter can be read alone.





	1. i bet you think you're first place

**Author's Note:**

> someone asked for rinezha headcanons on tumblr and it went out of hand. so have several minidrabbles instead! 
> 
> lyrics from Kacey Musgraves 'High Horse.'

#

The day after the incident in Combat, Rin disappeared from all of their classes. Venka told him she was sick.

Nezha almost felt bad. Did he punch her too hard? Did he almost kill her?

_‘But you wanted to.’ _The Dragon hissed on the back of his mind. _‘You wanted to kill her.’ _

_No, _he fought back. _You did. _

#

Rin came back the next day, but only for a week. She went missing again not long after he rejoined Combat. Not that he was paying attention, he just didn’t want to be a killer. _Yet._

He suppressed the rush of relief when she staggered back to Strategy. Kitay spared a curious glance at him. He scowled back. Rin looked terrible and queasy, but at least she was alive.

Venka told him what happened. What she did to her own body.

“She’s insane.”

Nezha agreed. He said nothing.

Later he would admit that he kind of admired her stubbornness. If he was honest to himself, he’d say her determination scared him. That made him work even harder on his studies. He wouldn’t let a Southern peasant beat him. Yinzha would have a field day otherwise.


	2. someone should give you a ribbon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter titles from Kacey Musgraves 'High Horse'

#

_“What is wrong with you?” _

He woke up with a start. He was back in his room, the one he used to share with Mingzha. Sweat drenched his bare chest and back, seeping through the soft bed linen.

Every night he was brought back to the ring, facing her. He could not forget, her eyes were brown one moment, and then they were fiery red, boring through him. He threw punches after punches, but she absorbed them like nothing.

Every night he was back on the ring, pinned to the ground. Rin rammed his face over and over and he could feel his consciousness leaving him, yet he remained. He could feel the Dragon waiting to take over, its desire to kill. He knew he would have won if he let it.

That would mean he’d lost too. The last five years, all of those sleepless nights writhing in pain, all would have been for nothing if he let it in.

Nezha got up, snatched his tunic, and went out to punch some wooden dummies.

#


	3. and put you in the hall of fame

#

One day when taking Sunzi the piglet up the mountain, Rin discovered Nezha, swimming on the creek.

She couldn’t help but stared. And stared. And stared. Wet droplets on his muscly back, his pale skin glistening in the sun, his black hair shining. He really was beautiful, it’s _unfair_

_Who the fuck swam this early in the morning? In winter? _

Sunzi made an oink sound. Nezha’s head snapped to her direction. She cursed under her breath and ran back to the city. No water for Sunzi today.

#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i'm also on tumblr @archmaestergilly 
> 
> my askbox is always opened for anyone who wants to scream about this lovely, terrible book.


	4. for all the games (that you think that you're winning)

#

Nezha never saw Rin fight. The classes they shared didn’t include combat, and she never returned to the ring. Apart from that day in the Tournament, Nezha had no idea how Rin moved.

By pure luck he stumbled upon her training alone in the mountains. She was practicing Seejin’s, he recognized from the footwork, although Jun hadn’t let him learn that far.

He hid behind a tree. Her movement was mesmerizing. The way she leapt in the air, back arching in an angle, her feet lightly touch the ground before she changed position, attacking imaginary oppositions from different directions. She was as beautiful as fearsome.

He left. It was the first time he realized that he would never beat her in a battle, unless he let the Dragon in.

No. He remembered the faces in the cave. The price was too high.

He settled with doubling his training with Venka and wining all of his matches. That’s how he became a good soldier, that’s how his father wanted him.

(now if he came back a few more times he wouldn’t take the blame. It was always good to study your opponent, after all.)

#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know how many more i have. anyway say hello at my tumblr @archmaestergilly


	5. ride straight out of this town (you and your high horse)

#

It rained the entire week. Strategy was cancelled, Irjah had gone to deal with the Federation. Nezha was in soured mood for days, unable to get rid of Han’s accusation about his father. His father was not a coward, no matter what Han said.

He hiked up the mountain. He needed to be alone for a change.

Huddling closer in his raincoat, Nezha noticed a small light coming from a nearby cave. He walked carefully; the mud muffled the sound of his steps.

Rin was sat on the far end of the cave. Her eyes closed. If she noticed him, she didn’t show it. She was as still as the air.

Curious, Nezha picked a small pebble from the ground and smacked it against the wall.

Rin didn’t move a muscle.

Nezha stepped closer, took a seat in front of her. That was when he realized that Rin’s body wasn’t touching the ground. She was levitating half an inch.

He was never this close to her, this furiating, enigmatic creature that was his class mate. Not counting the times they were wrestling each other, of course. From this new point of view, Rin looked like a child. Slightly build, her dark hair like a raven’s nest atop her head. Freckles spattered across her brown skin; proof of her childhood spent under the sun. She was not beautiful, not like Venka, but Nezha did not deny that there was something pulling him to her.

He had the strangest urge to bop her tiny nose.

_Ridiculous. _

He stood up, looked around the cave. There was no food, no camp. How long had Rin been meditating here?

Rin’s face squirmed. He quickly made his way out, avoiding the awkwardness if she caught him there. His pace went faster and faster and eventually he started running. His lungs burned; his heart beat a little bit too fast.

_What the fuck?_

He really wasn’t sure what had happened back there. _Nothing_, although he doubted that.

The next day he went up the mountain and left a tray of food and waterskin. He didn’t know why he did it. He wished nobody would ever ask.

*

When Rin opened her eyes, Jiang was there.

He led her out of the cave, strolling with his hands behind his back.

“Oh, someone left you food and water. I ate the food though, didn’t know when you’d come back. Here, drink.”

Jiang offered her a waterskin. She realized how parched she was, grabbed the skin, and down the whole thing in seconds.

_Did Kitay do this?_

#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yep this is probably too fluffy for the poppy war.  
anyway who wouldn't love iditos in denial?
> 
> chapter titles from Kacey Musgroves 'High Horse'


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